Inital hook
Queen Abby’s Mob
Ultraviolence, Diplomacy, and Massive Piles of Jink
So and all Sigil’s the bright center of the multiverse, no one disputes that, and there are seventeen Outer Planes, four or six or twenty-six Inner Planes depending on how you count, and there’s the Ethereal and the Astral and they’re all of them infinite, plus the Prime Material which is not only infinite but made up of an infinite number of infinite worlds.
It’s a big place. Important to have friends. Allies. Contacts. Business associates.
“We’re associates of your business partner Duke Stands-On-The-Mountain. You remember your business partner, Duke Stands-On-The-Mountain, don’t you?”
The vicissitudes of life have left many of Sigil’s grittiest without visible means of support. When you regularly dodge fireballs the size of haycarts, you’re not exactly going to sign on as an apprentice silversmith. Being in Queen Abby’s Mob is like guarding caravans, except it pays more and more regularly, not always in cash, and there’s a lot of travel.
“The duke’s no different than any other powerful man. Any man who’s responsible for other people, like a factol, or a guildmaster.”
“Do you know how naive you sound?”
“Why?”
“Factols and guildmasters don’t have men killed.”
“Oh, now who’s being naive?”
Some merchants, they know the score. They’re protected. Others, they’re not so lucky. Protection is a fickle thing. You miss one payment, and then you miss two, and then you miss three, and then Queen Abby’s boys are taking you on a one-way trip to Carceri, because you set a bad example for the children.
“A lot of vaults in Carceri, and a lot of problems are secured in those vaults. But you got to do it right. I mean, you got to have the vault already ready before you show up with a package in the bag of holding. Otherwise, you’re talking about eight hours rest, maybe an hour or two of spell prep if we’re talking a wizard. And who knows who’s going to come along in that time? Pretty soon, you got to ready a few more vaults. You could be there all fucking week.”
D&D, Planescape, 3.5. Miniatures, counting squares, measuring spell durations, the whole bit. Figuring twice a month, starting at level 3 or 4, going up to 13 or 14.
“Do you know what they call landsharks in the deep Ethereal? They got no land out there, they don’t know what a landshark is. They call them bullettes.”